Tag: nurse educator

Student Remediation Programs Make Success Possible for Nursing Students

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

“Ashley” was admitted to a nursing program with several challenges. She had dropped out of high school at 15 because she was pregnant; she got married and had a baby at 16; and was divorced at 17. For years, she worked at low paying jobs to support her son, although her dream was to become a nurse. Her grades in high school were not great because she rarely went to class. Finally, at 30 years of age, encouraged by a nurse who was the mother of one of her son’s friends, she successfully completed a GED exam and slowly began to take the required courses to apply for a nursing program. Her grades, although not stellar, were sufficient to make her competitive for admission. Her math score on the admission test was extraordinarily high, despite a low reading comprehensive score, which made her admission possible. Continue reading “Student Remediation Programs Make Success Possible for Nursing Students”

Tell Me What You See: Workplace Bullying and Storytelling

By Laura Dzurec, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, ANEF, FAAN

I never cease to be impressed by the power of stories. It doesn’t matter whether I’m with my grandchildren, in front of a classroom full of nursing students, or working on a research report, it’s stories—not my careful recitation of facts and figures—that are the glue attracting and holding audience consideration and attention. There is incredible power in stories. Like this one: Continue reading “Tell Me What You See: Workplace Bullying and Storytelling”

Highlights from the new NCSBN Report on Quality Indicators for Nursing Programs

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

COVID-19 has changed how nurse educators prepare students for practice. The changes in the health care environment—and nursing specifically—over the last decade have given faculty numerous challenges: integration of important new content in an already “stuffed” curriculum, evolving expectations of students, parents and college administrators, and the difficulty in finding appropriate clinical sites and sufficient numbers of faculty. As if these challenges weren’t enough, now faculty must cope with an international pandemic that has huge implications personally and professionally. In addition to their other responsibilities, faculty now must prepare students for practice using masks, social distancing, and limited clinical sites-all while working from home!

One thing, however, has not changed. Continue reading “Highlights from the new NCSBN Report on Quality Indicators for Nursing Programs”

Testing Online in the Era of Social Distancing

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Most of us have been coping, both personally and professionally, with the results of social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While we would like life to return to “normal,” we also worry about the health impact of returning to our “face-to-face” lives.  Equally important, when this crisis passes, what will the new normal look like? Continue reading “Testing Online in the Era of Social Distancing”

The Case for Courageous Leadership

by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN and Cathy Converse

“Courage is the first of human qualities because it’s the quality that guarantees the others.” –Aristotle

 Introduction

Leadership is on the hearts and minds of most of us as we navigate the complexities of our personal and professional lives. Although volumes have been written about effective leadership using a variety of perspectives, the need for courage in times of conflict and discord, particularly in situations of perceived high risk, seems particularly relevant. Few environments represent higher risk than health care. Continue reading “The Case for Courageous Leadership”

Coping with Change in a Multigenerational Context

by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

We would all agree that change in our world continues to escalate. Change impacts every aspect of our lives, including our work environments. One factor that complicates our response to change in the workplace is the number of generations represented by employees. Colleagues who grew up in different times often see the world through a different lens, which may lead to conflict. As multiple generations attempt to address challenges of change, different perceptions of the best way forward can complicate planning and decision-making. Continue reading “Coping with Change in a Multigenerational Context”

Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing Education

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Last month, I was pleased to give a presentation at a faculty development workshop on Evidence-based Practice (EBP) in Nursing Education at the Jane and Robert Cizik School of Nursing at the University of Texas at Houston. The participants were very engaged in our discussion and provided me with food for thought for this blog. The question that kept bubbling up for me as I traveled home from Houston was, “What evidence do we actually use as we plan our curricula, our courses, and our teaching-learning strategies for class, lab/simulation, and clinical experience?”

Continue reading “Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing Education”

W.A.I.T.: Impact on Teaching Clinical Judgment

by Susan Sportsman, RN, PhD, ANEF, FAAN

After being a faculty for many years, I find that I often want to “instruct” my family and friends. This urge is particularly prevalent with my husband. Being a very nice man, when I begin to “instruct” him, he appears to be listening (he looks my way), but the look in his eyes says very clearly,  “I have no intention of doing whatever it is that she is saying.” When I see this look, I always say, “W.A.I.T.—Why Am I Talking?” Continue reading “W.A.I.T.: Impact on Teaching Clinical Judgment”

Next Generation NCLEX: What should we be doing now?

by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Nurse educators involved in RN pre-licensure programs are waiting with bated breath for updates on the progress of the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) project, designed to develop more sophisticated methods to assess the ability of candidates to effectively use clinical judgement to care for patients. (See an overview of this project here and complete information from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing here.) 

Continue reading “Next Generation NCLEX: What should we be doing now?”

Next Generation NCLEX (NGN): A Brief Summary

by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Does the NCLEX-RN™ Examination measure the knowledge, skills, and abilities newly graduated pre-licensure nurses need in order to practice safely in the rapidly evolving practice environment?  This was the question the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN)’s NCLEX Examination Committee asked the Examination staff in 2016, stimulating an extensive research project to determine the ability of current and potential innovative test items to adequately test nursing clinical judgment. Continue reading “Next Generation NCLEX (NGN): A Brief Summary”